Ivan Ramen

July 15, 2013
As the rhythm of his name foretells, duality emanates from Orkin in a nearly oracular manner. He is of two lands: Tokyo, where his ramen has drawn raves, and his native New York, where he learned the restaurant trade at Mesa Grill and Lutèce, and where soon he will be opening a new noodle shop. He has had two wives, as we learn from this text, which is one part compelling autobiography and one part cookbook (plus a hilarious foreword from David Chang on America’s inability to eat ramen properly). His signature meal, shio ramen, is a noodle soup made from two broths: chicken, and a seaweed/seafood mixture known as dashi. Orkin spends a leisurely 35 pages to explore, photograph, and dissect every component of this dish, from the chicken fat that harks back to the schmaltz he grew up with to the toasted rye noodles and the cured bamboo shoots. A half-cooked egg, sliced perfectly in two with a piece of fishing line, completes the presentation. The remaining handful of recipes tell you what to do with the leftovers (make an omelet made with dashi, wash the bamboo shoots down with a beer) or offer some ramen variations such as ago tsukemen, which is rich in roasted garlic and served cold.

October 1, 2013
This is an autobiographyand a cookbook, of sorts. More than that, it's a journey of the making of an American ramen chef and an education into what constitutes a deceptively simple bowl of noodles in soup. Long Islandborn Orkin traces his obsession with all things Japanese to his teens and college years, majoring in the language and its culture at the University of Colorado. After years of working unloved jobs and traveling to and from Asia, Orkin changed his life by attending the Culinary Institute of America and eventually secured stints at Lut'ce and Restaurant Associates and opened a ramen shop in Tokyo. Thanks to his discovery by such celebrities as Ohsaki-San (Japan's acknowledged ramen expert and manufacturer Sapporo Ichiban, among other good-luck encounters, Orkin established a following. Back in Manhattan, he now offers this book instructing readers in the ramen-making process: half-dozen-plus components fabricated from ingredients, all photographed and meticulously detailed in more than 30 recipes. Perhaps the tasks may be too complex, but by the end, all readers will gain an appreciation of the intricacies of ramen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)